The Body Bomb – A New Terror Threat

Newsweek have revealed the details of a secret report which elaborates on the latest type of weapon that is being engineered by Al Qaeda’s bomb expert Ibrahim al-Asiri.

According to the article the explosives expert is believed to be working on a kind of bomb that is surgically implanted into the human body, making it extremely difficult to detect by traditional security scanning technology. This type of bombs are being called SIIED’s, which stands for ‘surgically implanted improvised explosive device’. It is believed that al-Asiri has been working on planting them in various places on a suicide bombers body, including in the stomach area that we call love-handles.

US Intelligence agencies have known about this threat for some time, however recent reports suggest that al-Asiri is getting closer and closer to perfecting the technology. This latest information came to their attention after a Saudi spy managed to infiltrate al Qaeda ranks in Yemen and learned of the latest type of weapon being engineered.

The double agent was inserted into the cell claiming that he wanted to be a suicide bomber and the operation was run by Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is Saudi Arabia’s head of counter-terror operations.

In 2009, bin Nayef himself was at the center of an attempted plot against his life. A suicide bomber claiming to want to surrender and convince others to follow suit approached the authorities. He demanded however, that he would only speak directly to bin Nayef. Saudi officials thoroughly searched the man and could find no weapons on his person and he was flown in to Riyadh to meet the Prince.

As he approached bin Nayef, the bombers body exploded into smithereens, a severed arm blasted through the tiles of the ceiling and bloody, dismembered body parts scattered around the room. Fortunately however, bin Nayef survived the attempted assignation and escaped with only minor injuries because the suicide bombers body absorbed the majority of the explosion.

This was the first time a device of this kind had been used in a terror attack, but it was not the last. Just four months later Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab became known as the ‘underwear bomber’ as he attempted to detonate a bomb on a Northwestern Airlines Flight 253 headed for Detroit from Amsterdam. Fortunately Abdulmutallab’s pyrotechnic underwear also failed to have the desired effect, the device caught on fire instead of exploding. The fire was quickly put out and Abdulmutallab was subdued by flight attendants and passengers aboard the plane.

Full body scanners have since been installed in the majority of American airports however some intelligence officials fear that even they may not be able to detect the new SIIEDs that are being worked on by al-Asiri and his men.

Reports suggest that terror groups have also been working on ways to ensure that the devastation caused by surgically implanted bombs, like the one used in the assassination attempt on bin Nayef, is more effective and intelligence from around the world suggest that they are getting closer to perfecting their designs.

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